HB 26-1033

HB 26-1033 expands Colorado's Cottage Foods Act by allowing home cooks to sell refrigerated foods and those containing meat products. Producers must take a food safety course and register with the state health department before selling their products. The bill also increases the annual revenue limit for cottage food producers from $10,000 to $150,000, adjusted annually for inflation. Health agencies can conduct random inspections and impose fines if necessary. This bill has been signed into law, meaning home cooks in Colorado now have more opportunities to sell their homemade foods under stricter but supportive regulations.

Official Summary

The act expands the 'Colorado Cottage Foods Act' (CCFA) by allowing for the sale of homemade foods that require refrigeration and foods that include meat and meat products. A producer of a food (producer) that requires time and temperature control must take a food safety course that includes food handling training concerning time and temperature control and acquire and maintain proof of course completion.     A producer selling products that require time and temperature control for safety may sell one type of such food product, with the ability to offer up to 5 variations of that one type of food product. The producer must specify the individual food products that require time and temperature control for safety and provide a list of such food products to the department of public health and environment (department) or a county, district, or regional health agency (public health agency) upon request.     A producer selling products under the CCFA is required to register with the department before selling. The department must issue a registration number to each producer and maintain an electronic registry of producers. A producer may earn up to $150,000 of net revenues under the CCFA each calendar year, increased from $10,000 . The department is required to adjust this cap annually for inflation.     The act authorizes a public health agency that inspects or investigates homemade food products produced pursuant to the CCFA to impose a fine for a violation of the requirements of the CCFA and to recover the cost of the inspection or investigation. If a public health agency determines that, on 3 separate occasions within 12 months, a producer has misbranded food that requires time and temperature control for safety or failed to comply with requirements related to food that requires time and temperature control for safety, the producer shall not sell foods that require time and temperature control.     The act creates the cottage foods cash fund (cash fund) and transfers $300,000 into the cash fund ($200,000 from the medication administration cash fund and $100,000 from the assisted living residence cash fund). The act also appropriates $119,354 to the department to implement the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

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